Prime minister hopes for ‘pragmatic’ solutions, while US president drops one diplomatic bomb after another

In his account of Tony Blair’s years in power, The New Machiavelli, Jonathan Powell sets out two opposing strategies for any British prime minister in dealing with their counterpart in the White House.

The first, he says, is “cutting a bella figura” – parading for show – by openly criticising the US president, for which he gives the example of the French. The other, and the approach preferred by Powell, is to do diplomacy in private and build a close relationship, in the hope of having greater influence.